9
thUNESCO Youth Forum
on
“Young Global Citizens for a Sustainable Planet”
O N - LINE YOUTH CONSULTATIONS ON THE F ORUM ’ S SUB - THEMES REPORT
Prepared by the Youth and Sport Section Division of Ethics, Youth and Sport Social and Human Sciences Sector For further information, please write to:
Contents
Context ... 3
PART I. Consultation results: Sub-themes of the 9
thUNESCO Youth Forum... 4
1) G
LOBAL RESULTS.………...5
2) G
ENDER DISAGGREGATED RESULTS………...…...7
3) R
EGIONALLY DISAGGREGATED RESULTS………9
4) A
GE DISAGGREGATED RESULTS………...12
5) O
THER COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS………14
PART II. Respondents’ characteristics ... 14
Context
Building on the recommendations of the youth participants of the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum in 20111 and the positive experience of the Forum’s 8th edition in 20132, UNESCO is, once again, committed to actively engaging young women and men from across the world in designing and preparing the 9th edition of its prime mechanism of associating youth to programme design and delivery.
The 9th UNESCO Youth Forum will take place from 26 to 28 October 2015 at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris, only a few weeks after the UN General Assembly will have debated and adopted the new Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs (September 2015) and one month before the 21st Conference of Parties (CoP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC (30 November - 11 December 2015). This unique moment provides an opportunity to offer a visible platform through which young women and men can voice their opinions on the interrelated issues raised by these two landmark events.
Under the general theme “Young Global Citizens for a Sustainable Planet”, the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum will look at how youth, engaging as global citizens, can contribute to building a sustainable planet from the global to the local level. This theme, in line with the UNESCO Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021)3, will allow a discussion of sustainable development challenges, while also maintaining a focus on climate change and the related global debates around CoP 21.
As a first step in the Forum’s preparations, UNESCO launched an online consultation to shape the thematic agenda of the Forum on the basis of the inputs from young women and men.
The questionnaire was designed to allow engaged youth to define the Forum’s sub-themes within UNESCO’s mandate and around two main thematic areas:
1. Young global citizens in a post-2015 world and 2. Young global citizens addressing climate change.
The questionnaire, open to youth up to 35 years of age from across the world4, was available from 24 March to 13 April 2015, in English, French and Spanish. The consultation process leveraged all UNESCO youth networks, National Commissions for UNESCO, the UN Interagency Network on Youth Development, partners’ networks, as well as the social media.
In total, the questionnaire received 3,668 responses. This report presents a disaggregated outlook on the responses received and on the respondents’ characteristics. These results guide UNESCO in determining the substantive thematic focus of the Forum, under and within its two main thematic areas.
1 The final report of the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum, the youth delegates requested the General Conference to ensure the “full participation of all delegates, in setting the agenda [of the Forum], by focusing on increased interaction and open debates, through greater involvement of specialized youth NGOs”. This request was also reflected in the evaluation of the Forum by its young participants undertaken in October 2011.
2 According to the evaluation of the 8th UNESCO Youth Forum, there was particular appreciation of efforts to engage a maximum number of young people in the Forum’s design, online preparation, running, events and outputs.
3 Available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002271/227150E.pdf
4 In order to ensure coverage of all the definitions of the youth cohort applied by the different institutions concerned.
PART I. Consultation results: Sub-themes of the 9
thUNESCO Youth Forum
Under each of the two main thematic areas, UNESCO proposed 9 sub-themes related to the Organization’s fields of competence:
For the thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”, these were:
1. Youth, rights and freedoms: knowing, realizing and promoting human rights, addressing the role of media and ICTs from freedom of expression to access to information
2. Youth engaging for change in the post-2015: skills, policies, role of media and ICTs
3. Youth as knowledge brokers: the role of young scientists, researchers and innovators in knowledge production and its use in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
4. Gender equal societies: addressing gender stereotypes and gender-based violence, increasing young women’s participation in decision making and socio-economic life
5. Diversity and culture of peace: the role of youth in promoting dialogue, mutual respect, protection and promotion of heritage in multicultural societies
6. Youth employability: skills, policies, labour market vulnerability, entrepreneurship (economic, social, cultural), innovation, creative economies and cultural industries, STI (Science, Technology and Innovation)
7. Education for sustainable development: skills, responsibilities, opportunities for, with and by Youth
8. Inclusion: youth addressing vulnerability and exclusion, combatting violence and discrimination 9. Mobilizing youth for accessible, affordable, reliable, sustainable energy solutions.
Under the thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”, the following sub- themes were proposed:
1. Young people’s contribution in finding and mainstreaming solutions on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change
2. The role of youth in raising awareness, through mainstream and social media, on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change
3. Youth-led solutions to address climate change, biodiversity loss and disaster risk reduction through traditional knowledge and local environmental management practices
4. Science education and promotion of careers in sciences as a strategy to address climate change
5. Youth involvement in prevention and mitigation of natural disasters
6. Integrating dimensions of mitigating and adapting to climate change in national public policies on youth
7. Youth involvement in managing natural resources, water and the ocean to address climate change
8. The opportunities for youth in the green economy in a context of climate change
9. The role of young women and men in ensuring participatory and gender-sensitive mitigation and adaptation strategies.
1) G
LOBAL RESULTSAt global level, the following sub-themes have been selected by most respondents (Figure 1):
- “Education for sustainable development (ESD): skills, responsibilities, opportunities for, with and by youth” (sub-theme 1A), selected by 17.6% or 586 respondents;
- “Diversity and culture of peace: the role of youth in promoting dialogue, mutual respect, protection and promotion of heritage in multicultural societies” (sub-theme 1B), chosen by 16.8% or 560 respondents;
- “Youth employability: skills, policies, vulnerability in labour markets, entrepreneurship (economic, social, cultural), innovation, creative economies and cultural industries, STI (Science, Technology and Innovation)” (sub-theme 1C), identified by 16.6% or 552 respondents.
- “Youth, rights and freedoms: knowing, realizing and promoting human rights, addressing the role of media and ICTs from freedom of expression to access to information” (sub-theme 1D), selected by 12% namely 401 respondents.5
Figure 1. Global results of selected sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
5 For the remainder of this document, for ease of reference, the sub-theme “Education for sustainable development: skills, responsibilities, opportunities for, with and by youth” will be designated as sub-theme 1A; “Diversity and culture of peace: the role of youth in promoting dialogue, mutual respect, protection and promotion of heritage in multicultural societies” will be designated as sub-theme 1B; “Youth employability: skills, policies, vulnerability in labour markets, entrepreneurship (economic, social, cultural), innovation, creative economies and cultural industries, STI (Science, Technology and Innovation)” as sub- theme 1C; and “Youth, rights and freedoms: knowing, realizing and promoting human rights, addressing the role of media and ICTs from freedom of expression to access to information” as 1D.
For the thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”, the main sub-themes that are distinguished are (Figure 2):
1. “The role of youth in raising awareness, through mainstream and social media, on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change” (sub-theme 2A), selected by 23.8% or 792 respondents;
2. “Youth-led solutions to address climate change, biodiversity loss and disaster risk reduction through traditional knowledge and local environmental management practice”
(sub-theme 2B), chosen by 18.7% or 622 respondents;
3. “Young people’s contribution in finding and mainstreaming solutions on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change” (sub-theme 2C), identified by 14.1% or 469 respondents.6
Figure 2. Global results of selected sub-themes under thematic area
“Young global citizens in addressing climate change”
6 For the remainder of this document, for ease of reference, the sub-theme “The role of youth in raising awareness, through mainstream and social media, on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change” will be designated as sub- theme 2A; “Youth-led solutions to address climate change, biodiversity loss and disaster risk reduction through traditional knowledge and local environmental management practice” will be designated as sub-theme 2B; and “Young people’s contribution in finding and mainstreaming solutions on causes, impact, mitigation and adaptation to climate change” as sub- theme 2C.
2) G
ENDER DISAGGREGATED RESULTS
Looking at the breakdown of the results by gender, the responses given by young women on the post-2015 agenda sub-themes differ from the global results, as they introduce among the top sub- themes the one focusing on gender-equal societies7, which is the third most selected, by 15.7%
of all female respondents (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Answers from young women on sub-themes under thematic area
“Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
Among the young men, sub-theme 1C, on youth employability, comes first (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Answers from young men on sub-themes under thematic area
“Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
7 Full sub-theme: “Gender equal societies: addressing gender stereotypes and gender-based violence, increasing young women’s participation in decision making and socio-economic life”
Figure 5. Answers from young women on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”
As regards the preferences of young women on the sub-themes related to climate change, these correspond fully to the global results (Figure 5), and this is also the case for young men (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Answers from young women on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”
3) R
EGIONALLY DISAGGREGATED RESULTSFigure 7. Answers from Africa respondents on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
On the sub-themes for the post-2015 thematic area, the results for Africa (Figure 7) are interesting in that they introduce a new sub-theme among the top selections, namely “Youth engaging for change in the post-2015:
skills, policies, role of media and ICTs” as the third most selected. The most selected sub-theme in the region is 1C, namely youth employability.
Rights and freedoms (sub- theme 1D) and diversity and culture of peace (1B), are relegated respectively to 5th and 6th positions.
As regards the Arab region, the most selected sub-theme is 1D on rights and freedoms.
Sub-theme 1A on ESD is the third most selected, whereas 1C on youth employability is pushed by youth from the region to the 6th position (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Answers from Arab region respondents on sub- themes under thematic area
“Young global citizens in a post- 2015 world”
With regard to the choices of respondents from Europe and North America, a relatively significant proportion of preferences are expressed for the sub-theme focusing on gender equality, which comes in 4th, pushing 1D on rights and freedoms to the 5th position, albeit by a very narrow margin of difference of one vote between them (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Answers from Europe and North America respondents on sub- themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world
While the results from Asia and the Pacific correspond fully to the global results, the picture arising from the responses from Latin America and the Caribbean is also telling (Figure 10). The 3rd most selected sub-theme for this region is a new one, namely “Youth as knowledge brokers: the role of young scientists, researchers and
innovators in knowledge production and its use in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
The 4th most selected sub- theme by a small difference is gender equality, whereas education for sustainable development (1A), which is the most selected at global level, is relegated by the region’s respondents to 5th place. Sub- theme 1D on rights and freedoms is here in the 6th position.
Figure 10. Answers from Latin America and the Caribbean respondents on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
With regard to the sub-themes relevant to the thematic area of climate change, the results for Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and North America, are fully in line with the global results.
As regards the Arab region, the most selected sub-theme, on awareness raising through media (2A), comes up first also for this region, but the prioritization of the other two most selected sub-themes is inversed, with sub- theme 2C on finding and mainstreaming youth solutions to climate change becoming the 2nd most selected and, inversely, 2B on traditional knowledge and local environmental management practices being the 3rd (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Answers from Arab region respondents on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”
Similarly for Latin America and the Caribbean, the prioritization between the globally most selected sub-themes is reorganized. The most selected sub-theme is 2B on traditional knowledge and local environmental management practices, whereas 2A on awareness raising through media,which is the most selected at global level, is relegated to the 3rd position (Figure 12).
Figure 12. Answers from Latin America and the Caribbean respondents on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”
4) A
GE DISAGGREGATED RESULTSFrom the analysis of the results per age group, within the post-2015
thematic area,
respondents aged 15 to 18 give the greatest priority to 1D on rights and freedoms,
whereas youth
employability (1C) is only on the 7th position. The sub-theme on gender equality is here introduced among the top four selections (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Answers from respondents aged 15 to 18 on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
As regards respondents aged 19 to 25, their choices correspond to the global results.
For the respondents aged 26 to 30, youth employability, otherwise 3rd in the global results (1C), is the top sub- theme, whereas the sub-theme focusing on rights and freedoms (1D) is pushed to the 7th position. Similarly to respondents from Latin America and the Caribbean, the sub- theme on Youth as knowledge brokers is among the top selections, coming in 4th (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Answers from respondents aged 26 to 30 on sub-
themes under thematic area
“Young global citizens in a post- 2015 world”
Figure 15. Answers from respondents aged 31 to 35 on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens in a post-2015 world”
Similarly, for those between 31 and 35 years old, youth employability (1C) is again the top sub-theme, whereas the sub- theme focusing on rights and freedoms (1D) is 5th, leaving the 4th position to gender equality (Figure 15).
For those aged 15 to 18, priority sub- themes related to climate change are similar to the global results: sub-theme 2A on raising awareness through media, including social media, is by far the most selected one, although the priorities are inversed between youth contributions to find and mainstreaming solutions (2C), and mobilizing traditional knowledge and local practices to address climate change (2B) (Figure 16).
As for the 19 to 25, the 26 to 30, and the 31 to 35 years of age, their priorities are aligned to those identified by the respondents as a whole.
Figure 16. Answers from respondents aged 15 to 18 on sub-themes under thematic area “Young global citizens addressing climate change”
5) O
THER COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONSThe survey also gave the possibility to youth to formulate other suggestions of sub-themes that the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum could look into, in addition to those proposed. All the qualitative feedback provided will be processed and synthesized in order to inform the debates around the Forum’s outputs, particularly in the formulation of its Recommendations.
PART II. Respondents’ characteristics
As regards the respondents’ sex, 53.7% of them were young women and 46.3% young men.
The age group that responded the most in the survey is that of women and men between 19 and 25 years old (52.7%), followed by those between 26 and 30 (24.7%). The least respondents are those aged between 15 to 18 years (10%) (Figure 17).
Figure 17. Distribution of respondents according to their age
As regards regional representation, the greatest part of the respondents are from Asia and the Pacific (27.6%), closely followed by those from Africa (24.7%), and Europe and North America (23.2%).
Youth from Latin America and the Caribbean represent 14.7%. The lowest percentage of respondents comes from the Arab region, with 9.6% (Figure 18).
Figure 18. Distribution of respondents according to regions
Concerning responses from specific countries within the different regions, for Africa most respondents are from Nigeria (11.7% of all respondents from the region), as well as from Madagascar (6.3%) and Mauritius (6.3%). The largest number of respondents from the Arab region is from Morocco (10.1%), followed by Egypt (8.75%) and Tunisia (8.2%). In Asia and the Pacific, 17% of the region’s respondents come from Indonesia, followed by India (15.5%) and the Philippines (10.7%). The highest number of respondents from Europe and North America is from the USA (17.3%), followed by France (9.6%) and Canada (7.3%), whereas with regard to the respondents from Latin America and the Caribbean, the majority are from Mexico (29.6%), followed by Argentina (10%) and Columbia (7.6%).
As regards the
respondents’ occupation / status, the greatest proportion (47.4%) are pupils or students, followed by members of a civil society organization working on or with youth (16.4%), as well as young employees (13.6%). The lowest percentages correspond to young members of a National Commission for UNESCO (1.3%) and of a UN system entity working on youth (1.4%) (Figure 19).
Figure 19. Distribution of respondents according to their occupation/status
Regardless of the respondents’ current occupation or status, the absolute majority of them (79.3%) are active in youth or civil society organizations (Figure 20).
Figure 20. Distribution of respondents according to their activity in youth or civil society organizations
